


Kinds of Loveliness

by Karios



Category: Blue Castle - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Married Couple, Post-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:48:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21785488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karios/pseuds/Karios
Summary: Barney is right: a house you build for yourself is so much nicer than a hand-me-down.
Relationships: Barney Snaith/Valancy Stirling
Comments: 12
Kudos: 65
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Kinds of Loveliness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dragonbat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonbat/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide Dragonbat!
> 
> Thanks to ashling!

In spite of Valancy's spirited assertion that no place on Earth could match their Blue Castle back in Mistawis, she grew in fondness for the rest of the world too, even in that first autumn when all she’d seen was the ancient gardens outside Rome. Barney had been right; the loveliness of the moonlight filtering through those trees did soften the blow of homesickness. And the thought of her, Valancy, being homesick for anyplace nearly bowled her over with laughter.

From the start, Valancy offered her thoughts on each new sight or sound or scent; only brand new words, not quotations, can serve brand new places. On one such occasion, Valancy caught Barney recording her words in a small notebook.

"What on Earth is that for?" she asked him. No one had ever seen fit to put her words down on paper, and it was both terrible and exciting to think of them trotting about in Barney's pocket.

"I'm taking notes. You've seen a notebook before," Barney teased her.

"I meant what do you need notes for?"

Barney shrugged. "I'll be wanting to put together a new John Foster book sometime." And if Valancy had been nervous about her words being in Barney's pockets, then the thought of them set down next to John Foster’s—in a book no less—made her feel positively faint. Finding out he was her Barney had not lessened her esteem for the man.

"But I'm not John Foster," Valancy protested.

Barney took her hand, his gaze dropping to admire the ring he’d put there. "I'm married; it's only fair get he himself hitched as well. Mr. and Mrs. John Foster can write the next one. What do you think?"

Valancy's eyes shone, and she nodded. Even though she knew they were quite alone out in the woods, she still spared a glance around before throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his. "Yes. Absolutely."

"Just one thing," Barney said, talking a half step back and gripping her shoulders.

"What is it?"

"Mrs. Foster needs to get her own name. Only I get to be married to Valancy."

Valancy nodded politely, but she was most pleased at the idea that Barney did not want to share her name. That he held dear the name her clan had had nary a care for. "Do you have a suggestion? Anything but Doss," Valancy hurried to add.

Barney lacked one in the moment, but a few evenings later, they settled on Julia. "For the jewel of my heart," Barney murmured as Valancy tested it out. First the sound and shape of it as it tumbled around her mouth, and then she pulled herself out of bed to write it out on paper. Tracing its loops and hooks with her finger and her tongue, Valancy decided it would do very nicely indeed.

By day they adventured, by evening Barney wrote. They chatted while Valancy fixed dinner, and then went onto bed full of contentment and joy. By the time their honeymoon travels had drawn to a close, Valancy found she was eager to get to Montreal.

*

Barney, bless him, reassured her all the same. "I hope you're not still disappointed about building a second home in Montreal," Barney said as they set out on their first morning of construction.

"I'm not," Valancy said earnestly. And she wasn't, not anymore. The trip had given her an appreciation for how Barney could love a great many places.

"Good," Barney said, a true smile overtook him. "Good; because as much as the Blue Castle is ours now, there's nothing quite like building a place up with your own two hands. Every nail and board and stitch of fabric all your own."

Valancy had not considered that at all. Not so very long ago at all, she had merely wanted the right to hang a portrait of her own choosing. And now, Barney was offering her a whole home to organize and paint and fill.

"I want you to have that," Barney continued on, as Valancy had not said anything.

"It will be wonderful. Absolutely wonderful," Valancy agreed.

And it was.

Hauling, splitting, and sawing the wood was difficult work, but Valancy hadn't felt so needed since she was caring for Cecily. Watching her home take shape, as a pile of wood became a wall and four walls became a room, had given her a swell of pride that ten houses full patched quilts and polished spoons never could have touched.

Standing inside the two rooms and a fireplace they'd taken the better part of the winter to build, tears sprang to Valancy's eyes. They'd done it: a house of their very own.

Barney rushed over. "It disappoints you." His face hardened.

"No, Barney, no," Valancy said, swiping at the tears that rolled off her cheeks in earnest now. "It's wonderful. It's just so wonderful."

They brought in a stove, a bed, and a pair of chairs. Although Barney declared it sparse even for him, they decided it was enough that they could stay.

*

The following spring, they really made a home of it.

They added color, to the floors and walls, the pillows and linens, the chimney and the doors, drawing inspiration from the Earth: grass green, the brightest blues of the sky and ocean, the purple of sweet swollen grapes, and the yellow of the rays of the morning sun, the brown of the earth, and the bright crimson of a cardinal.

The last color was reserved for the third room that they hoped to need sooner rather than later: a nursery. But their home in Montreal wasn’t complete until Barney added a fourth and final room that in his words was for “if they ever needed a moment apart”. Valancy couldn't see herself using it for such a purpose, and yet she, who had only known privacy in the moments between wakefulness and sleep, was overjoyed the option was there.

Most importantly of all, there was one and only one portrait allowed in the whole of all the house. It is of course entitled "Valancy Snaith" and it was painted by one Allen Tierney.


End file.
